Protecting Sea Turtles and Improving Fisheries

Traditional management of sea turtle bycatch in marine fisheries often pits conservation against economically-viable fishing instead of encouraging both. Regulations including fleet-wide bycatch limits and fishing closures give fishermen incentives to fish faster but not to avoid sea turtles. Bycatch limits are routinely filled and exceeded, inhibiting sea turtle recovery and spurring economic arguments for higher limits as target fish are left unharvested and benefits of fishery management are reduced. However, management that values sea turtles in the water can give fishermen an incentive to develop and implement skills and technology to avoid bycatch, making rational behavior work in favor of sea turtles and efficient fishing. The case of the Gulf of Mexico reef fish longline fishery’s interactions with loggerhead sea turtles is developed as a case study to demonstrate how “incentive-based” regulations can improve results by allocating the bycatch limit among fishermen or fishing associations and instituting individual accountability and at-sea monitoring. Incentive-based management can result in less bycatch of sea turtles and other wildlife, more valuable fisheries, and better data to guide decision-making.